NDG baseball honours its volunteers

By Mark Lidbetter, October 3rd, 2012

Last week the NDG Minor Baseball League took time to celebrate the important contributions of their volunteers who make the association run through their hard work.
The evening began with the distribution of the NDG Baseball Legacy Awards, which are presented to individuals who used to volunteer for NDG Baseball, who have not won the Lionel Geller Award of Excellence and their contributions have left an indelible impression on the league.
The 2012 recipients of the Legacy Awards are Jackie Wallace, Henry Lavinskas, Jim Mavrokefalos, and Charles Hindley.
Recipients Lavinskas and Mavrokefalos are past presidents of the organization who made a lasting contribution.
Under Mr. Lavinskas' presidency the league was able to take advantage of the weekly bingo revenues, which helped finance the league and its teams.
Mavrokefalos was a firm believer in the adherence to rules, be it NDG's teams or their opponents. Tenacious, during his tenure he was able to convince Little League Quebec to reverse a previous decision that caused one NDG team to lose a championship. In October of that year, the NDG squad was declared co-champions with archrival Valleyfield in a moral victory.
Charles Hindley has been an umpire with NDG Baseball for decades. Fair to a fault, Hindley has a calming presence on the field that transcends the generational difference.
The most emotion filled Legacy presentation of the evening was the one awarded to Jackie Wallace.
A founding member of NDG Baseball in 1961, Wallace's involvement in the NDG sports community can be traced even further back than that. In addition to serving as president Wallace also coached numerous competitive teams.
In his remarks Wallace noted, “I was proud to have never been thrown out of a baseball game.”
And the winners are:
Lionel Geller: Award of Excellence (Awarded once in a lifetime to an individual who has volunteered for at least five years and has made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the league).
Frank Martinez - head coach of Little League Quebec Minor Provincial champion Minor Lynx, runs winter indoor sessions, all around effective volunteer.
William Hurst: Volunteer Award - (Awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the league during the year).
Glenn Barrett & Steve Glazer - Mr. Barrett, as convenor of the Junior/Senior house league (13-14-15-16 yrs old) was instrumental in ensuring all games were played over the last two years. Mr. Glazer, as president/executive director, Junior Lynx head coach, selfless volunteer.
Competitive Coach of the Year
Senior Lynx Coaching Staff - was never a doubt. Head Coach Bobby Titleman along with Steve Monk, Rafael Zapata, Livin Vargas and Ray Callari pointed our Senior Lynx players in the right direction. They clearly saw progress this year. Canadian Senior League National Champions, the Senior Lynx were oh so close to qualifying for semifinal action at the Senior League World Series in Bangor Maine.
House League Coach of the Year: Mark Gauvreau
President's Awards - for volunteer services rendered to the league and to the presidents: Louise Dandurand, Rick Duenez, James Rankine and Ron Shporer